Lightweight armors utilizing a hard strike face component such as a ceramic or ceramic matrix composite are susceptible to damage during use. In addition, these types of armors also eject spall (i.e., ceramic debris) from the front face upon being impacted by a projectile. The spall can be hazardous to surrounding personnel.
Prior art spall shields include nylon cloth, rubber, metal, or resin impregnated glass fabric bonded to the exterior surface of the armor (ceramic) or a resin film cured and formed to the outside of the armor. None of these prior art spall shields provide complete spall suppression and only provide a very limited amount of protection for the hard (ceramic) front component of the armor (e.g., if the armor is dropped onto a hard surface).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,967 (Tasdemiroglu) discloses a ballistic spall liner for military vehicles. It discloses a liner with multiple and repeating layers made of high tensile strength fabric and steel. The object of the invention is to prevent military personnel within a military vehicle from being injured by spall that is directed to them in the same general direction of the projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,941 (Barnes et al.) discloses a composite for protection against armor-piercing projectiles. This patent discloses how to make a composite. It does not teach how to trap the spall created as a result of an impact on the composite by a projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,493 (Blommer et al.) discloses an explosive attenuating structure for use inside missiles and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,690 (Moskowitz) discloses a ballistic armor with a spall shield containing an outer layer of plasticized resin.